Breaking news: the UK economy isn’t fairing entirely well.
It’s certainly not a dead donkey but neither is it at the pinnacle of its health.
It probably won’t come as a surprise to many of you that, according to The National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the UK economy didn’t grow at all in 2012. Yet despite having a tough time over recent years, small businesses are still ploughing away and making a real difference to the economy.
Tech enables more micro-businesses
Technology has thankfully played a major role in helping small businesses set up, realise their goals and access new audiences.
With companies filing for administration and an increase in redundancies over the last few years, many workers and households have suffered and have looked for new ways to gain extra income. As a result, some have set up their own small business or become freelance consultants, to their advantage.
The micro-business model is one that is fiercely popular within the craft sector.
Yes we said it, the ‘C word’; craft.
Fear not hipsters and urbanites the UK craft scene has moved beyond the local village fete.
An impressive 210,000 people are employed in the craft sector, with a further 112,000 working in it on an ad-hoc basis. Proving the effectiveness of the micro-business model, 76% of all craft businesses in the UK are run by just one person. And together they are worth an impressive £4.4bn to the economy.
Online marketplaces like Etsy are becoming increasingly popular with artisans looking for a platform to sell their wares. Since it was first established in 2005, Etsy has experienced huge growth and now offers a platform to over 800,000 independent creative businesses across the globe, netting sales close to $900m last year.
One seller to take advantage of the marketplace is London-based illustrator, James Ward, who started his Etsy shop in 2010 and has racked up 2300 sales to date.
76% of all craft businesses in Britain are run by just one person
He says: “Etsy has been a fantastic platform for me, not only is it a great marketplace to sell my products but it has also helped me get publicity from all the magazine journalists and bloggers that view the site daily. I have also had access to a lot of support from day one – from the Etsy community in the online forums to the Etsy blog that gives great tips on improving and growing your shop.”
The success of the online marketplace model is down to the benefits it brings to consumers and sellers. For consumers, the marketplace model offers choice and allows them to easily search through thousands of stores on one website.
For the sellers, marketplaces offer a shop front and traffic – and a whole lot of traffic. Etsy receives 2 million unique monthly visitors from the UK alone and 42 million unique visitors globally.
When you compare the global exposure with the time and cost of setting up and growing an independent online store it’s easy to see why this model is proving so popular with small, independent businesses and offers news opportunities for Britain’s economy.
Tech City News will host a live web debate during the Chancellor’s budget announcements this Wednesday lunchtime, find out more details here